This age talk is making my head . I'm a February birthday and "normal" -- ready on time to begin school when I was 5 that is. However, my sister, 18 months younger than me, probably should have started school when I did (but who wants to have two kids, different ages in the same grade?). Sept. 1 is the date here. My own children: we considered pushing for Erin to start early and I'm glad she didn't (even though she's not always challenged). Leah Lou is Sept 29th bday -- she'll be all but 6 when she begins and frankly, she's good.

Luckily, we've always lived in places where the cutoff was early (August 1 in Indiana, September 1 in Illinois) and my kids' birthdays are October, March and May so starting early was never on my radar screen. DD2, with the May birthday, will certainly be more than ready in the fall to start kindergarten. But a good friend of mine, who has a son born the day before DD2, is holding him back for a year. He's socially fine, but has NO interest in anything academic at all. She's tried teaching him letters and stuff, and he's just like, "That's nice Mom, can I ride my bike now?"

Geo ~ I agree with the subtext/supertext/subtext. A run is imperative today. May the planets align properly to allow it to happen.

DD2 is home for one more day from preschool. It's 11:00am and I think I've already eaten enough calories for today and tomorrow combined. Sigh.... But, we are having fun painting flowerpots, repotting houseplants, and DD showed me her true talent ~ dusting the furniture in the bedrooms! And they are working hard on my backyard retaining wall today. It's going to be awesome!

Originally Posted by memilesWhatever it takes to get them to refuse the induction date, right? And as the mother of June and July kids, it's been constant. Looking back, we regretted the decision to start the June birthday early, but it really didn't show up till late elementary school. And being the last of your friends able to drive? We may as well have ruined his life!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz

Interesting. Can you tell me what you saw in late elementary that cropped up? Everything I've seen emphasizes effects in the K-3 range and in the high school range (size/puberty/driving/19 in high school), but this is the first I've heard of something in between. We started my August DD on time, and I can't imagine having held her out. She is the poster child for "can't make a decision based on statistics and averages" though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz

{general musing, not so much a comment to memiles} I'm wondering now what developmental stages precede that meta-cognition development to get a sense of whether or not a child at 5 should or should not start kindergarten. I'd love to see some sort of "best practices" study that relates to this issue.

All this is so interesting. Alison is Aug 31 - same as cut off. Socially I'm sure she's ready to continue with her current peers (who are all a bit older) but this what-about-5th-grade-math thing makes me unsure. Chiara is one of the oldest in her grade (Oct. 15) and she's having a hard time with math. It's coming, but slowly. And she's especially sensitive because she's in a 2nd/3rd split and so feels really stupid if a 2nd grader is nipping at her heels academically. So for her the multi-age classroom isn't a plus, but being the oldest probably is helping since if the math is hard for her now it would have been worse if she'd been trying it last year. And of course they are wildly different kids. Oy. It all make me and I long for the one-room school house solution too.

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Originally Posted by kerc

ladies: it is apparently time to seriously work out. Two different students asked me today if I was pregnant. I'm so embarassed that two different people thought it enough to ask. urgh.

I had a crew member on the boat asking me about the next addition to our family and I totally didn't get it until later that he thought I was wicked pregnant! Doh! Makes Atkins all that much more appealing!

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Originally Posted by Mel38

Real, I loved your Hallmark moment.

Love it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz

Well, the subtext of the supertext in the subtext is that mama needs a run.

Yes, this. Though I'm sitting here catching up instead! Bad Dingo!

RM - You okay? That fall sounds like a doozy!

Jo - Sending thoughts of joyful transitions!

My BFF from Mexico is here for a quick visit while she's here to see her dd who goes to school in Vancouver. It's fun to have her here but in true Mexican fashion SHE'S STILL SLEEPING!

Well, the subtext of the supertext in the subtext is that mama needs a run.

YES!!!

And the subtext for me is that we have DD in public school as long as it's working for her, with back burner plans for homeschooling if/when she or we need it. Most of her learning is happening at home right now already, and school is an excellent social outlet.

I ate a bit of breakfast this morning without agonizing pain!! And managed to mow the front lawn and do a bit of yardwork before feeling totally exhausted. If I can eat lunch, too, I might actually make it to bootcamp tonight :)

"Guess what? It's a magical world. And when I sing, my songs are in it."Madly in love with my 7 and 4 year old daughters

Here we have the september 1 cutoff for school and my kids have May, June, and July birthdays. I really felt like we were just starting our kids ontime, but they are considered "early" in our school district. Nearly everyone else who have kids with summer birthdays will wait until the child is 6 prior to starting and ours have started (and the youngest will start) right after the summer they turn 5. However, I find myself wishing now that we would have waited 1 more year with our oldest as she struggles a bit in school and is a touch immature for her age. However, it feel much too late to hold her back now (3rd grade) and so we just keep trudging forward.

I went for a run this morning and was quite excited to do 3.51 miles!! That is the farthest I have gone yet :) I didn't even feel like I was going to die. I just needed to come home to drink something because it is hot out there today!

Erika, mama to three beautiful kids (plus one gestating), and wife to one fantastic man.

On schooling, it is so hard and confusing! Through this all, I am so very thankful and grateful that Katie isn't threatened by Emily's academic achievements. I work very hard to balance the kids' needs on this front. It takes some deft parental juggling sometimes, but overall, I just try to accept where each kid is at, celebrate their individual accomplishments and not compare them to each other. So far so good, but it does concern me as they get older. Emily is already far beyond Katie in math. Katie is not a very competitive kid, which works in her favor in this regard, and has such a generous nature that she really loves seeing other people accomplishing things!

So, I didn't post yesterday because I had nothing good to say and ya know...if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all, right? No running to report, and the day was full of one massive melt-down after another. UGLY.

I had great plans this morning to go to spin class, followed by a quick run, before DS's swim lesson. Unfortunately, while I SET my alarm, I failed to turn it on, and wouldn't you know that this is the one morning DS decides NOT to wake me up and bug me? We salvaged it by heading out for a quick run around the neighborhood, so all was not lost, but I was kind of bummed to miss spin class.

And then, there was the job offer. I got the job! It's on internal medicine, which wasn't really my first choice, but it's not neuro which I REALLY didn't want. Regardless, it will be good experience, I can definitely use the money, and here's hoping that it really does what I hope it does, which is get me in the door to the new grad program. I have orientation the week of Memorial Day, and then I'll start working. One shift a week, so I guess it's not too bad.

Oh, and I persuaded XH to send me some money to help out with swim lessons and DS's ski pass (and maybe his ski lessons, that part is still under discussion), so that helps the (rather bleak) financial picture a little...

Gaye, single mama to Tyler (5/06) and Baxter the labradoodle Wait...I signed up to DO an Ironman??? I thought I was signing up to go SEE Ironman!

Speaking of school stuff, I'm so ready for the end. My semester wraps up this week and I just gave my last final, but we've been going full-speed at R's school. Last week included an extra strings rehearsal and field trip. This week includes a dress rehearsal tomorrow morning, the concert tomorrow evening and field day on Friday. Next week includes two dress rehearsals for the talent show (though I think one is actually during afternoon kindergarten so it won't involve an extra trip, thankfully), the talent show and a day off in the middle of the week. I think I'm keeping up. Our last day is May 31.

Managed a 3-miler to the library and back with J, who was good enough to actually take a nap (unlike say, yesterday).

On the school/age thing: I totally agree with Geo that it'd be great if kids could stay with their age group peers - or even the age group they do best in, and get the instruction they need. My oldest dd did a grade skip from K to 2. She's now a junior in high school. We've continued to have school problems a-plenty over the years, but in her case, none of them seemed to be maturity issues. She's never struggled to learn material or seemed to need a different level of brain maturity than she had at the time she was tackling new material. Being the youngest has barely been a social issue - she's been the last to do everything, but she's not very fussed about it (even now, when she can't drive yet as a almost-done junior.) If anything, she remains more socially mature than her same-class peers, although not more "street smart" if that makes sense. The grade skip didn't seem to cause any major issues for her at all. However, and it's a big however! - it also didn't fix her academic dissatisfaction much. The work wasn't more challenging enough, or more interesting enough, or something most of the way through, and it's always been really hard to motivate her to do any kind of "busy work." In the last year, thankfully, getting in to college has been a big motivator and she's started taking much more interest in school work. I wish we'd come up with a better option for her in the more middle grades - like 5th-8th that could have kept her more engaged - and honestly taking her out of the peer group for those years wouldn't have been a bad idea. In the end, I think skipping her was the right idea - I cannot even imagine her coping with being a sophomore at this point as she's barely tolerating the immaturity of her junior and senior classmates! And now that she's finally reached the level of AP classes, she's much more content academically. I don't know what I'm trying to say, other than getting the right fit for each individual kid is just hard! My #3 child, who is just as bright as his sister, would have been totally inappropriate for a grade skip due to social immaturity. He's not always the happiest at school, but is able to get more intellectual challenge through outside interests and overall is doing fine. My littlest dd is lucky this year to have a fantastic teacher who seems to fairly easily differentiate for many kids in the class. She gets challenge spelling, accelerated reading, and extra science and social studies, in a very friendly and supportive peer environment. Wish she could have that every year.

tjsmama - congrats on the job! I'm glad you got some financial help on the way, too.

bec - what's with the arm soreness with hard running? I get that, too - across the shoulders and triceps even. I need to get your race on the results list!

Geo - you get that run? And is the college you wish for for your kids a secret or can anyone know it? ;)

NRR - I'm kinda losing it here. I think about all I need to accomplish in the next 6-7 weeks (last work day June 30, closing on new house July 7) and I just get paralyzed and can't do anything. I feel like I'm walking in quicksand all day. And patient visits are so painful - many of my clients can't figure out where to go for a new doc (or multiple new docs, since I'm a family doc and they may need 2-3 other types to replace me) and I'm done to where many of my visits are the last visit for this particular client and it's taking me forever to get through them. It's hard to stay on schedule and work a patient through every 15 min when so often I need to be saying good bye after 8-10 years. Really, I'm losing it. I don't know how I'm going to make it the next 6 weeks. I still think this is the right decision and I'm excited about the new job, but if I knew the last few weeks were going to be so hard, it would have truly have given me pause.

RR - Only reason I'm not coming unglued totally. Ran 25 miles last week, and still could've used a few more!

On the school/age thing: . I wish we'd come up with a better option for her in the more middle grades - like 5th-8th that could have kept her more engaged - and honestly taking her out of the peer group for those years wouldn't have been a bad idea.

This is the part that concerns me for Emily. The skip has really only been a bandaid. I'm trying to start brainstorming what to do in the next few years to keep her occupied enough so she doesn't get frustrated!

I'm so sorry these last few weeks are so hard for you. I know it is not much of a help, but what a treasure you have been to these people that you will be so missed!

Sorry for my lack of input lately; I got a notice that my stack of library books were overdue and some couldn't be renewed, so I was frantically making my way through those in my free time. Disaster averted.

drjen--I'm so sorry that it's been rough saying goodbye to your patients. It's hard for them to let you go, and they will probably remember you and speak of you fondly, but they will figure out what to do about their new doctor situation. Don't let yourself feel guilty for doing what's right for you.

tjsmama--Congrats on the job! Things are moving right along for you, huh? It's great news that you were able to find something, even if it's not exactly where you want to be right now.

The school discussion is interesting. My kids are in first grade and preschool, with no signs that they will be outside the academic level for where they are, so grade-skipping will likely not ever come into play for us. However, DD, my first-grader, has a July birthday and the cutoff for school here is September 1. She is young, which we didn't really know when we registered her for school. In my town there's a program called "Transitional," which is kind of a gap-year between kindergarten and first grade. It gives kids that extra year without the stigma of being left back, since it's a separate classroom and not kindergarten all over again, exactly, but something different to do for a year before moving into first grade.

DD could have gone either way, since she's young and she didn't like to hold her pencil correctly, which her kindergarten teacher seems to think is a much bigger deal than I do. We decided to send her ahead to first grade, but are now constantly second-guessing ourselves as we hear more and more people who have gone through the transitional program. Apparently sports is a consideration, too, especially for the boys who, if they take an extra year before first grade, would then have an advantage when they get older and are playing against classmates who are younger and smaller. Who even thinks of that?

My main concern is the social aspect. We've always been a bit concerned about DD, as she has a huge birthmark on her face that attracts attention like crazy. And I was young for my grade, too, a November birthday with a December cutoff. I didn't turn 18 until my freshman year in college. I was always academically advanced and never struggled with the schoolwork, but I had trouble socially. I remember in high school just being really uncomfortable with the boy-girl banter and not exactly figuring out how to participate in flirty conversation. Would an extra year have helped me be more comfortable, or is this just a personality issue? I keep having to remind myself that my outgoing, center-of-attention, bossy DD is NOT me and will probably be fine with the social thing.

Ah, running! I've been running this week. I did something on Monday--five miles? Then yesterday I was planning on doing my long run but it was colder than I anticipated and I let my brain get in the way of my plans. I wimped out and did three fastish miled on the treadmill at the gym, which meant that today I was locked into my long run even though it was still chilly and drizzly.

It felt decent. I did just over twelve miles, and it didn't feel as awful as it did last time and the time before. I can definitely feel improvement in endurance and mental fortitude on the horrible hills. I didn't feel like killing myself, and I only stopped once around mile 8 to drink some water, eat a Starburst candy, and fix a wardrobe malfunction (sweatpants that kept sliding down) that had been plagueing me since the first mile. I'm pleased with how today went, although I'm waiting tables tonight and I have a feeling that today's running choice might feel like more and more of a bad idea as the evening progresses.

This weekend DH and I are attending a wedding four hours away with NO KIDS! It's been seven years since we have traveled without kids. We're dropping them off with my parents on Friday night, going to the wedding Saturday night, and picking them back up on Sunday. It will be a truly fabulous weekend away, and I've been looking forward to it for months.

DrJen - What a challenge! It must be SO hard to turn these patients over to the unknown, on both sides. However, I think its a good thing you didnt anticipate this, and potentially change your plans, because you have needed a change for awhile, and now that you dont have to worry as much about your kids, you have the chance. It just seems like you give to others a lot, and now is a time for you.

La4 - that sounds great! Good for you!

RR: - nada

NRR: chiropractor today. never been to one. through no fault of his, I left midway through the appointment, crying. Changed back into my street clothes, walked to the front desk to pay, and everyone was in a big hullabaloo. anyway, feeling dejected, but dont want to start crying again, so off to prepare for all the volunteer work I have Friday and Saturday for ds' and dd1's school and climbing team respectively....

tjsmama, congrats on the job!! Even if it's not quite where you want, do you get to accumulate seniority towards applying for your dream job after graduation? I was just chatting with a nursing student at bootcamp last night who scored an "employed student nurse" summer job and realized that the side benefit is that she'll be way ahead of at job finding time because she'll be an "internal applicant". Regardless, the extra money and experience can't hurt ;)

La, way to rock the 12 miler!

Jen, talk about overwhelming! Glad you can run and thinking of you as you finish out these final weeks of work.

Sparkle and JayGee, hugs and wishing your crabbiness away.

I just bribed my kids with chocolate chips to stop whining leave me alone while I take a "mental health" break on MDC. It didn't work- now my oldest is arguing about the semantics of the word bribe- and the differences between "good bribes" and "bad bribes" and whether it's "appropriate" to use bribes. I'm not even kidding. Off to have a conversation about my discipline methods, since she's really unimpressed. I wish she would just eat the chocolate...

"Guess what? It's a magical world. And when I sing, my songs are in it."Madly in love with my 7 and 4 year old daughters

jaygee~Did you see my facebook status? Because that was it, almost word for word! Sigh. Just one of those days here, not helped by the nonstop rain and dreariness all day.

mel~I've been getting conflicting reports on how much these positions help you get a job when you graduate. It is definitely a big resume boost, and I think the experience will for sure help me be a better RN. The university hospital ONLY hires new grads to its new grad residency program, though, so competition is fierce. I think that being an employee guarantees you an interview for the residency program, but not a spot in the program. Which an interview alone is hard to get, so that's a boost at least. I think they had something like 400 applicants for 40 positions in the last go-round (they have three start dates a year). I've also heard it said that the ACP position is like an extended interview for the residency program. So, all that to say that it MIGHT help, but no guarantees.

Right now, I'm almost wishing XH had wanted custody of DS. I am counting down the days until I get two weeks off from him.

I was supposed to have track this morning, but I didn't have childcare for it. Had planned to take DS with me if the weather was nice, but raining and 30 degree temps? Not so much. So, we went to the Y for spin class instead, and then I hopped on the treadmill for a quick 20 minute run. Two bricks in two weeks?! What on earth has gotten into me? And then to top it off, I went back to the Y while DS was at school to get a swim in. Yes, that's right. I did ALL THREE SPORTS in one day! It's not like I have the first tri of the season in a week and a half or anything.

Gaye, single mama to Tyler (5/06) and Baxter the labradoodle Wait...I signed up to DO an Ironman??? I thought I was signing up to go SEE Ironman!

Come on over. I've got beer, wine, sweet tea and soda available. I'd love to enjoy a cool drink on the deck and soak up the remaining bits of sunlight (it was foggy where I was all day).

That sounds wonderful! I ended up having a beer with DH on the sofa and laughing ourselves silly. Worked to pull me out of my crummy mood . I am mainly frustrated with the house right now and my total inability to keep it clean. There is a perpetual layer of fine dirt on everything because we don't have any grass yet and my cats keep going outside, eating what little grass there is, and then vomiting on the carpet. I'm over it. I really want to get this house looking nice and well-decorated, but I feel like I'm making very little progress on that front. I also must sign up for some races this summer, because without a firm race on the schedule, I'm finding my training to be haphazard at best (non-existant would better describe this past week...)

Had tri class last night. It was a pyramid swim. 1200 yards of speedwork. Not really sure what the point of that was when there are so many of us that are just working on endurance, but, whatever. It was hard, and the air feels thick. It's so humid and you can see a haze of pollen in the air! The workout was a warmup, then 25 sprint, rest 20 seconds, 50 sprint, rest, 75, 100, 150, rest a minute and then go backward. Who sprints for three laps?!

Busy, busy today. Abby's end of year picnic, then volunteer, then a makeup dance class for the big kids, followed by Abby's preschool graduation and the big kids' spring concert (happening at precisely the same time)! AHHHH!!!!! Mama needs a run, but I can't breathe with the humidity and everything blooming, even if I had the time!

Busy, busy today. Abby's end of year picnic, then volunteer, then a makeup dance class for the big kids, followed by Abby's preschool graduation and the big kids' spring concert (happening at precisely the same time)! AHHHH!!!!! Mama needs a run, but I can't breathe with the humidity and everything blooming, even if I had the time!

Wow, that must be a side-benefit for us being in a neighborhood where a lot of kids are held out an extra year before kindergarten. No graduation!! Two kids from DS' class (!) are already returning next year, and I bet the other pre-K room for the younger set has many returning next year as well.

We have the preschool end-of-year picnic for this evening. DS and our sitter are making the dessert this afternoon, and we're biking up there while DH takes DD to flute.

For the first time in my life, I think I'm enjoying heat and humidity. Good thing -- I'm off to teach about Venus' atmosphere. Let's see if I can create 50 citizens educated about greenhouse gasses.

C and I are working on speed and core strength at least once a week now. It's supposed to be Tuesdays, but we didn't do that because of lightening in the area. I did some anyways when I got home, but then we did the full workout last night. 8x bleachers, 50 yards lunges, bazzillions situps, 10 pushups. I don't hurt as much today as I did last week.

Have been running sporadically. Today I did something I never do...went out at 5 a.m., did one loop (1.5 miles) and blew it off and went inside and took a nap for another half hour. I just didn't have it. I'm hoping to get out again this afternoon maybe.

Suffering through the last few weeks of work.

Potentially big changes for our family on the horizon...more on this as things become more definite.

My surgery is scheduled for Monday. I'm still very nervous. But hoping and praying it's the right thing for me. Happy Thursday!

Oh yes...Bec...WAY TO GO on your race the other weekend! And Gaye, congrats on the job!

~waving wistfully to Geo as I wish we could chat in your living room again! ~

I have no RR, sadly. I think I can get out to bike tomorrow morning as I don't have class prep tomorrow. I'm starting PT on Saturday so while a July marathon looks like a dimmer possibility - a half I could do, I think, and I'm hoping to heal quickly. I'm doing finals and final projects from here on out, so just a grading marathon, but no real teaching. My students' projects have been so good thus far! I'm proud of them.

In household news I believe dh is on track to get fired within the month. I'm really, really angry with him as this is the third time in two years that he has sabatoged himself out of a job. So our very recent financial cushion, largely because we have cheaper health insurance through his job and great presecription coverage, is about to vanish, along with about 60% of the household income. We won't starve or be homeless, thank God, and can get expensive insurance through my job, but it is going to get very tight and very scary really soon. I can't believe that he is making this set of choices, but there you go. I am trying to be zen. Thus far I am failing.

I would like to be bumped to the top of the "mama needs a run" queue.

Can't give up actin' tough, it's all that I'm made of. Can't scrape together quite enough to ride the bus to the outskirts of the fact that I need love. ~ Neko Case

The graduation thing is new in the last couple of years. I didn't have it with the other two. I would likely be totally disgusted with the entire thing, but she is my last in preschool, so I'm a bit teary about how big my baby is getting, and we have been involved with this preschool for over 6 years! So, we are saying goodbye to some people that we have really made some relationships with.

Last week, a sick (marginally, seemed fine but tired) dd1 HURLED all over the dentists office while I was getting my teeth cleaned (as in, she's in the sterile, white, ascetic room with me and blaaaaaaahhhh all over the floor), then was fine and went to climbing practice that afternoon.

Yesterday I leave the Chiro in tears after almost two hours, no treatment and feeling not understood (or maybe he doesnt know sports or something) and like I will in fact not run anymore - WAIL - which has been the most intimate and important part of my life/self besides having kids.

Today the accupuncturist, whom I like and respect, forgets about me in the room - I'm in a robe on the bed waiting for over half an hour before there wouldnt be time for a treatment anymore before I have to get the kids, so I get dressed and leave.

Dh cleaned today, which he almost NEVER does - not kidding; a source of tension between us needless to say - and says he is trying to help my depression. Nice. But really? I have to be on the verge of driving into oncoming traffic for you to do a load of laundry?